www.suzukib-king.org

Back on after a long hiatus. Been riding my TWO B-Kings, yes, I own two now. After riding the one purchased new in 08 for thousands of miles including two non stop trips to Kansas City, 830 miles one way and many other shorter trips, I decided to get a back up King. So I bought a used one from a Suzuki/Victory dealer. It was 'customized,' if you can call it that, with some kind of rubberized dark grey coating over the side panels, etc. It would peel off under your finger. Also had four into one exhaust and a different handlebar, which I can't figure why the previous owner did that since it is very close to a stock one. So I paid someone some very well earned money to peel the coating, remove the panels and repaint them all in a dark red cherry metalflake. That includes the panels under the engine, the wheels, the sides of the front fender, and the scoop part of the tanks. The inner part of the front and rear fender and the gas tank remained black. Very subtle, looks all black in the shade, but put it in the sun and the red shows real nicely. The modified exhaust I have to live with. I say that because, of my two Kings, one silver and black stock and the other custom, guess which bike gets all the attention when I park them? That's right, the stock bike. The custom bike is just another crotch rocket to most viewers, unless they take a closer look. That headlight that looks like the face of a Transformer, the big scoops, etc need to be continued at the back with the stock exhaust. Remove those triangular shaped covers and you lose one third of the character of a B-King. Hope you guys have kept your stock pipes. I turn 76 on the 24th of March, and as long as I can keep sitting upright, I will keep twisting that throttle!

“ Remove those triangular shaped covers and you lose one third of the character of a B-King. Hope you guys have kept your stock pipes. I turn 76 on the 24th of March, and as long as I can keep sitting upright, I will keep twisting that throttle!”

Amen to all that.

I turn 73 in September, my pipes are stock and working fine, and my B-King's as well.

No unfortunately it wasn't me. I am going out for my first ride this coming weekend. We will be taking Hwy 6 to Cape Meares close to Tillamook OR. Hopefully you have plans for this coming weekend, we are finally getting good weather. I am sure ready.

Yes, that was me at Deal's Gap on 25 through 27 April. My two sons went up to participate in the Rotaries on the Gap rally. One son took his 84 RX7 GSL-SE with 299,000 miles on it and the other son was going to take his 71 R100 with a modified RX7 engine but the day before he was to leave the master cylinder started locking up the brakes so instead I allowed him to take my green Mazda Miata. So I had two sons there with Mazdas and I took the King. I ran into a guy who I think said he was from TX and owned a King but he was on a Honda or something. Was that you? I rode back and forth on the Dragon and my photos are at 8:38 AM on Saturday on one of those photo sites and I am sure other times and places as well. I took it fairly easy this time. The last time I took the King, I chased my one son in his turbo Miata up and down the Dragon all day and pretty much stayed on his bumper. This time I was not into going all that fast (it was really cold on Saturday morning when we went way past the Dragon to where the rally was being held, and when I stopped at a stop sign and put my left foot down I dropped the bike! First time ever. My leg was semi-frozen. No damage at all as I had the carbon fiber whatever you call it installed and sticking out on the side and nothing except that touched the ground. Embarrassing though. My son was in front at the stop sign and another unknown person was behind me in a generation 3 RX7. They had a banquet awards event starting at 830 on Saturday night and then I had to follow my son all the way back through the Dragon to Marysville in the dark late at night so I took it very slow since I allowed him to go ahead and run at his own pace and said I would catch him at the overlook. I kept thinking, if I go off, I will either bleed or freeze to death before anyone can find me in the morning. So it was scary, me...who likes to claim I am so fearless. All ended well, I caught my son at the Overlook and several other RX7 owners were there and we all stood in the dark and looked at the stars. Nice run, but I was the odd man out on this trip since I was the only guy on a bike except for one other guy who came up from Atlanta and was riding a 500cc Suzuki rotary bike from the 70s. Hey, my son took first place in class with his 84 RX7, so we had a feel good.

Might as well throw this one out there for your info. Might be someone on here who is doing the same thing. I bought a barn find 73 Honda CB750 from my son recently. He had bought it last year, rode it home, making about ten miles and two of the four carbs immediately started leaking. We tried hitting on the float bowl with a sledgehammer and that stopped it temporarily but we ended up bringing the bike home on a trailer I had wisely brought along. So the bike sat, I bought it from him, and now the carbs are rebuilt, the starter button has been replaced (has to run inside the right handlebar) the points and condensers are replaced with electronic ignition, new battery, tires, seat, and now one more thing, the two coils have to be replaced at $90 each because the new wiring won't fit the old coils. So the bike will be new mechanically and electrically, but will look stock barn find in appearance. Should be interesting to ride. Do not plan to repaint, re-chrome or turn it into a Café racer because the bike is all there 100% stock. If it had missing or changed pieces, I would do the Café bit, but not the way it is now. I was there when these bikes came out in 1969 working on motorcycle books and as the editor of CUSTOM CHOPPER in early 71 I featured the first CB done into a chopper on a custom frame. That bike, the model and that custom we featured, changed the entire bike industry.

“Yes, that was me at Deal's Gap on 25 through 27 April. My two sons went up to participate in the Rotaries on the Gap rally. One son took his 84 RX7 GSL-SE with 299,000 miles on it and the other son was going to take his 71 R100 with a modified RX7 engine but the day before he was to leave the master cylinder started locking up the brakes so instead I allowed him to take my green Mazda Miata. So I had two sons there with Mazdas and I took the King. I ran into a guy who I think said he was from TX and owned a King but he was on a Honda or something. Was that you? I rode back and forth on the Dragon and my photos are at 8:38 AM on Saturday on one of those photo sites and I am sure other times and places as well. I took it fairly easy this time. The last time I took the King, I chased my one son in his turbo Miata up and down the Dragon all day and pretty much stayed on his bumper. This time I was not into going all that fast (it was really cold on Saturday morning when we went way past the Dragon to where the rally was being held, and when I stopped at a stop sign and put my left foot down I dropped the bike! First time ever. My leg was semi-frozen. No damage at all as I had the carbon fiber whatever you call it installed and sticking out on the side and nothing except that touched the ground. Embarrassing though. My son was in front at the stop sign and another unknown person was behind me in a generation 3 RX7. They had a banquet awards event starting at 830 on Saturday night and then I had to follow my son all the way back through the Dragon to Marysville in the dark late at night so I took it very slow since I allowed him to go ahead and run at his own pace and said I would catch him at the overlook. I kept thinking, if I go off, I will either bleed or freeze to death before anyone can find me in the morning. So it was scary, me...who likes to claim I am so fearless. All ended well, I caught my son at the Overlook and several other RX7 owners were there and we all stood in the dark and looked at the stars. Nice run, but I was the odd man out on this trip since I was the only guy on a bike except for one other guy who came up from Atlanta and was riding a 500cc Suzuki rotary bike from the 70s. Hey, my son took first place in class with his 84 RX7, so we had a feel good. ”

Yes, we rode our Goldwing for this trip. We're planning a July tripand will try to bring both the Wing and B-King then. I have kin that live less than 1 hour from all the good roads there...

We enjoyed watching the rotory cars...impressive how well they handle the curves. Our congratulations to y'all on placement.